Page 64 of Little Secrets
Vanessa Castro never just calls. The PI always emails first so they can agree on a time to speak. These days, nobody likes it when the phone rings out of the blue; it feels intrusive, which is why nobody bothers with a landline anymore. A landline can do only one thing—ring.
The PI only spoke five words in her voice mail: “It’s Vanessa. Call me. Thanks.”
She thinks of Frances.Oh god. Taking a deep breath, she makes the call.
“It’s Marin,” she says, when the PI picks up.
“Hi,” Castro says. “Sorry to call out of the blue.”
“Just tell me.”
“It’s not about Sebastian,” the other woman says, and every part of Marin’s body sags with relief at those four words. “Oh, shit. I should have explained that in my message. I’m sorry, Marin, I was distracted. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“It’s okay.” It isn’t really, but it will be, once Marin’s heart returns to its normal rhythm and she can breathe again. “What’s going on?”
“McKenzie Li,” Castro says. Hearing the name makes Marin sit up straighter. “Are you aware that she’s missing?”
Missing?Sharp inhale. Her heart rate picks up again.
“Missing?” Marin repeats, trying to inject the right note of confusion into her voice, trying to react as if she didn’t potentially have something to do with it. But she couldn’t have—she’d changed her mind about Julian, so why the hell would the younger woman bemissing? “What… what do you mean?”
“I’ve been keeping loose tabs on her…” Castro does sound distracted, like she’s following a train of thought that’s much further along than what they’re currently discussing, and maybe reading through something on her computer at the same time. “I know you said you were handling it, but I’d already started digging and I just wanted to keep going for a little bit…”
Marin closes her eyes.Shit shit shit. “Right…”
“… and a few hours ago her roommate posted something on Facebook about her being missing.”
Marin realizes she’s holding her breath again, and she forces herself to exhale. She has to say something, and she doesn’t know how to respond. Her heart is thumping wildly in her chest, and she thanks god Castro isn’t telling her this in person, because she’s certain the guilt is written all over her face. “When… when did this happen?”
“It seems she’s been gone for two nights,” the PI says. “Which is long enough to concern her roommate, because they apparently had dinner plans last night.”
“We… Derek and I just got back from Whistler yesterday. We were out of town for the weekend.”
“Yes, I saw that on your Instagram,” Castro says absently. Her words give Marin another jolt. The private investigator she hired checks her Instagram? “I wasn’t checking up on you,” she adds, as if reading Marin’s mind. “I happened to check this morning because I saw the Facebook post McKenzie’s roommate made, and I wanted a quick way to verify where Derek was, in the chance that they might be together. But they weren’t, because he was with you.”
“That’s right.” Marin is hesitant. She can’t seem to figure out where the PI is going with this, and she’s still trying to process that the woman thinks Derek’s mistress—formermistress—is missing.
And what exactly does she mean bymissing? Missing as in McKenzie took off, didn’t feel like telling anyone, and no one can verify where she is? Or missing like she’s dead in a ditch somewhere, because Julian got to her before Sal could get to him?
“Derek has been with me,” Marin says. “We’ve been… working on things.” She takes another breath. “Are you thinking he had something to do with—”
“No, no,” Castro says, and her voice sounds more present. “Notat all. But with McKenzie missing, this makestwopeople in your husband’s life that have disappeared. Which makes him the common denominator.”
“Oh.” Marin hadn’t thought about it that way at all. “Right. So, what doesthatmean?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t like it. One person in Derek’s life suddenly gone is one thing. Two is…” Castro’s voice trails off again, and Marin wonders whether she’s in her office, or at home, or in her car. “Did you by chance download the Shadow app onto your phone? I’m pretty sure I put a note in the file about it.”
“I did.” Marin forces herself to speak normally.
“Have you been keeping up with their text communications?” Castro asks, which is a polite way of saying,Have you been spying on your husband and his lover?
Marin is gripping the phone so hard, her knuckles are turning white. Everything about this conversation is freaking her out. She was clear with Sal about wanting it called off, and her best friend had assured her it would be done. So what the hell happened? Was she too late? At the diner, Julian said nothing would happen right away, that he would wait a few weeks in order to create distance between their conversation and the actual event. It’s been less than a week. He can’t have done anything to McKenzie so soon.
Unless… Julian saw an opportunity. Unless he saw that she and Derek were away, giving Marin—and, by extension, Derek—the perfect alibi. And it really is perfect. Nobody would ever suspect them. The Machados spent the weekend in Whistler, over two hundred miles away, with dozens of witnesses and an Instagram account documenting—and geotagging—all the highlights of their trip.
“Did the texts say anything that alluded to McKenzie going away?”
“Not that I recall.” Marin’s mind is going in seven different directions. She’s trying to remember the specifics of what the textssaid, while trying to remember what she said to Sal and what he said to her, while also trying to figure out where Vanessa Castro is going with it all. She needs to stay one step ahead here, because it’s true that Derek is the common denominator. There are two important people in his life who have disappeared. One is his child. The other is his lover.
